Determinants of Culture

RECAP:
The ways to live are called cultures:
that which distinguishes one group of people from
another.
There are an infinite number of ways to form a culture,
and no culture is objectively better or worse, superior
or inferior, to another.
Cultures are adaptations of a people to the conditions
of life.
When these conditions change, as they have over the
centuries, cultures are put under pressure.
Still, they resist change.
Today we find different cultures not only on different
continents, but also in different countries and even parts
of countries.
A culture can never be all things to all people;
what is good to one observer may be bad to
another.
You cannot have one aspect of a culture that you
like without having other aspects that you may
not like so much.
When you compare a large number of cultures
around the world, you would see that
although each is different, they all share some
basic commonalities. These are called the five
determinants of Culture.

Culture is problematic:
Culture is not a universally accepted notion, and
there are a great many different ways to define it.
Just know that culture pertains to the social
world; it determines how groups of people
structure their lives.
Culture is multifarious:
National Culture vs. Sub-Cultures.
There is also the question of who decides what
the rules are for any given culture and who is the
legitimate interpreter of those rules.

Culture is malleable. It only manifests itself through
social action that always takes place in a changing
context.
E.g., political events or technological advances can
drastically change the context in which people live, which
in turn can lead to cultural change.
Because culture is so complex and dynamic, problems
of reliability and validity make it very difficult to
measure.
The Contact Region between two culture is hard to
establish.
Value systems are implicit, and values defy conscious
reflection. Persons who are members of a culture may
not be able to describe that culture to another person
not necessarily a member of the same culture.

Determinants of Culture with their
Value Dimensions
Identity.
Individualist vs collectivist
Hierarchy.
Power Distance
Gender.
Care-oriented vs Achievement-oriented
Truth.
Strong Uncertainty Avoidance vs Weak U A.
Virtue.
Long-Term Orientation vs Short-Term Orientation.

1. Identity
Relationship between individual & group.
It can be seen as a spectrum ranging from
individual identity, or Individualism, to group
identity, or Collectivism.
Cultures of most wealthy countries in the world
are relatively individualistic
Cultures of the poorer countries are relatively
collectivistic.

This is also historically true; as countries have become
richer, they have also moved toward the individualist
end of the spectrum. Collectivism can be seen as an
adaptation to poverty and limited resources, and
individualism, to wealth and ample resources. Wealth
makes it easier for people to take care of themselves,
to make it on their own. Yet a balance between the
individual and others is always needed.
In collectivist societies, individuals may have to repress
their individual identities, and this may prove
problematic. In very individualist societies, people may
feel lonely and isolated, develop antisocial behaviors,
or cling to illusions of group cohesion.
The issue of identity is crucial and far-reaching,
and it has implications for many aspects of
communication.
Authorities on culture have called different
manifestations of the same continuum by various
names:
individualist/collectivist,
low-context/ high-context,
universalist/particularist,
specific/diffuse,
monochronic/polychronic cultures.
It shows how multifaceted this basic social issue is.

2. Hierarchy
The degree of inequality between the people
that is assumed to be a natural state of affairs.
This attribute has been called Power Distance.
In a society of large power distance, nobody
thinks that people are all equal (or even
should be) or should have the same
prerogatives.
Parents are not children, leaders are not followers,
and kings are not citizens.

Measuring degree of power distance is
problematic and always relative. And it depends
on whom you consider, because power distance
also differs within countries, becoming smaller as
one climbs the social ladder.
Power distance in Northern and Western
European cultures is smaller than in countries in
Eastern and Southern Europe. The two areas are
separated, roughly, by the former boundary of the Roman
Empire.
As a country becomes wealthier, power distance
decreases.
Large power distance is easier to maintain in a
situation of poverty and limited resources.
Power distance is the extent to which less
powerful members of institutions and organizations
within a country expect and accept that power is
distributed unequally. (Hofstede page 262).
It describes the extent to which employees
accept that superiors have more power than
them.
Opinions and decisions are right because of the higher
position some has.
In countries with high power distance
subordinates are too afraid to express their
doubts and disagreements with their autocratic
and paternalistic bosses.

Countries with Small Power Distance
Bosses and subordinates work close together and
consult each other: an interdependence.
The hierarchies are flat with a decentralized
organization and a small number of supervisors
who are expected to be accessible for their
subordinates.
Within a company the degree for unequal
treatment is reduced to a low level.
The salary range is narrow between the top and
bottom in companies.

Countries with Large Power Distance
The relation between boss and subordinate is
strictly ruled and dependent on the decisions of
the boss.
Usually with a very centralized organization,
subordinates expect to be told what to do from
their superiors because they consider each other
as unequal.
Inequalities & privileges are normally expected by
superiors.
Salary range is wide.
Positive emotions are expressed to superiors and
negative emotions to subordinates.

3. Gender
An unequal role distribution between men and
women coincides with a tougher society in which
there is more emphasis on achievement and
fighting than on caring and compromise.
If men and women are more equal, the result is
more feminine qualities within society as a
whole.
An equal role distribution between the genders in
a culture Feminine and an unequal distribution,
Masculine.

Gender Disparity in China
The first time in Europe/World when females got the right to vote
was in the beginning of the 19th century in Finland.
The development has reached nowadays nearly equal rights between
males and females.
In comparison Chinas first law protecting women workers dates
only from 1988.
Nowadays in China women are playing an increasingly important
role but they are still far away from having achieved equal rights.
Women in China cant reach/dont get positions which would be
adequate for their knowledge and level of education.
In a Chinese company men dont report to women about business
matters.
It is unacceptable in China that women take managerial positions or
have a higher status in jobs than their male colleagues.
in Finland
West has little business-life disparity in comparison.
Finland has a concrete sense of equality.
Tarja Halonen has served two terms from 2000 to 2012 as the
president of Finland.
Women in Finland regard having their own job and money as
self-evident.
Finish women have in general jobs and financial
independence.
But still they dont get treated fully equally.
Majority in power in business and politics are still men but
the extent is smaller in comparison to other countries.
Traditionally women have the same education standard as
men or nowadays even a higher level.

Alternative names are care-oriented versus
achievement-oriented.
Big differences exist on this continuum even
among countries in the same part of the world.
Cultures of the Netherlands and the Scandinavian
countries are very feminine, but those of Germany,
Switzerland, and Austria are strongly masculine;
Costa Rica and Portugal are feminine, but Colombia
and most other Latin American countries are
masculine;
Thailand is feminine, but Japan is very masculine.
Britain and the United States are also rather
masculine.

4. Truth
Coping with the unpredictable & ambiguous.
It is the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by
uncertain or unknown situations.
To forestall the unknown, cultures with strong uncertainty avoidance
create formal rules and believe in their correctness.
Many people in this kind of a culture believe that what is different is
dangerous.
They will avoid anything that doesnt go along with the rules and regulations
they were creating.
Because people dont know what will happen on the next day, the future
is expressed as uncertain and this uncertainty causes anxiety.
Anxiety is a diffuse state of being uneasy or worried about what may
happen.
As such it is closely related to stress and nervousness, and not to fear.
Anxiety has no object, fear does.
They resist in changes and worry about future.

Comparison
Cultures with weak uncertainty avoidance are open for
new things and changes.
They dont have feelings of uncertainty about future.
To prevent uncertainty societies set up laws and rules.
Duties and rights (internal and external) are controlled
by authorities.
Some cultures have a strong uncertainty avoidance:
In France many strict regulations are used and tasks are
heavily centralized in companies.
There will be a much higher demand for details when
creating a contract.
To avoid any circumstances causing uncertainty for French.
They are rather inflexible concerning changes.

Americans and Chinese (Hong Kong) have a
lower need for uncertainty avoidance.
They rather avoid too many rules and
formalities.
They are more likely to stimulate innovations
and emphasize new ideas.
They are more flexible and more acting than
reacting on changes occurring inside and
outside.
This aspect of a culture has been called:
Strong uncertainty avoidance vs weak U A.
Uncertainty Avoidance vs Uncertainty Tolerance.
One-truth orientation vs many-truths orientation
Russia and the countries of the Balkans have
cultures of strong uncertainty avoidance, as
do Japan, Mexico, and France.
English-speaking countries and China tend to
be more uncertainty tolerant.
Singapore, Jamaica, and Denmark are very
uncertainty tolerant.

5. Virtue / Values
Choice between future & present virtue.
The issue of virtue is particularly important in Asia
and explains why non-Asians find it hard to come
to grips with this cultural concept.
Where Europeans and Americans are more
concerned with truth, Asians are more concerned
with virtue.
Both are related to a societys attitude toward
time and traditions.

Long-Term Orientation vs Short-Term Orientation.
Confucian Dynamism Michael Bond.
It indicates the extend to which a society is more
future / long-term oriented or more past / short-
term oriented.
Many countries of East Asia, like China and Japan, are
considered to be long-term oriented.
Most European and American countries are fairly
short-term oriented.
The Dutch, with a reputation for stinginess, are long-term
oriented by European standards.
African countries are very short-term oriented.


Long-Term Oriented Values are:
Persistence;
Ordering relationships by status and observing them
Stable relationships;
Saving money;
Having a sense of shame to care for others and being
loyal and emphasizing trustworthiness.
Short-Term Orientated Values are:
Openness in relationships;
No overt regard for tradition
which prevents from being innovative;
Reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts is more related
to social rituals and can lead to an increase in consumption
favorable in Western countries with a high degree of short-
term orientation.